MAM
Havas launches the world’s first ‘Meta DSP’
MUMBAI: Affiperf, Havas’ programmatic pure player, became the first company in the world to offer brands the opportunity to operate seamlessly across multiple demand side platforms with one single point of contact with the launch of its “Affiperf Meta DSP” solution. This represents a significant leap forward in what is now called “the age of programmatic” as the topic continues to dominate the agendas of events such as this week’s Advertising Week in NYC.
As technology, data and algorithmic complexity have increased; automation in the media industry has become the new norm. Despite this, the potential of automated programmatic methods for real-time buying have been limited by the fact that until now, agencies were limited to using inventory from different Demand Side Platforms (known as DSPs) in parallel. As the number of DSPs in the market exploded, this added a rather frustrating and inefficient complexity to the process of optimisation and data collection in programmatic buying.
Algorithms data and advertising
Following three years of research from Affiperf, a Fields Medal holder and renowned data scientists MFG Labs, the Affiperf Meta DSP solution offers for the first time, a way to unify and make sense of data sets across multiple platforms. It aggregates multiple assets using their APIs, i.e. data inventory, features and algorithms from a number of DSPs. It then uses modelling and decision engines to allow traders to recommend wider, more sophisticated strategic options and monitor them.
MFG Labs co-founder and Fields Medal holder 1994 Pierre-Louis Lions commented, “Thanks to three years of extensive R & D we have been able to bring technical neutrality to the conception, implementation and optimisation of campaigns. This works both in the real-time bidding process as well as the design for even more integrated approaches that will enable us before the end of the year, to start managing our Affiperf Meta DSP solution for online and offline data and media.”
A unique answer to growing complexity
The Affiperf Meta DSP is powered by enhanced proprietary algorithms that offer clients fluid digitalisation, optimisation and addressability across formats. This ability to collate results and information into one unified marketing statistic marks the end to complexity in this critical area. Although increasing in size, the competitive landscape is not dominated by one DSP, but a fragmented ecosystem of DSP display, mobile and video, rich media DSPs, each of them having different rules, inventories and features. This makes it increasingly difficult for brands to get consistent answers and to see the bigger picture.
Technologically agnostic, this is the first solution that is open to all DSPs and all technologies. Through this platform brands can therefore take advantage of the best technology available to reach out to and relate to people with greater speed in a more tailored environment than ever before.
Havas Media Group global managing partner and Chairman of Havas Media Group France and UK chairman Dominique Delport said, “In today’s world, media is code and digital campaigns are like software. The idea behind programmatic when it first started was to secure instant contact between traders and brands that would enable our clients to benefit from an infinite number of connections with consumers in real-time. The explosion of data and the significant rise in the number of DSPs on the market has meant that this promise of programmatic was lost to complexity and silos.
Affiperf Meta DSP disrupts the market with the creation of one single tool that enables our clients to optimise choice across multiple platforms. As a result, our industry can finally take programmatic buying to the next level to help brands generate more tailored, more effective and more meaningful connections with people. This is programmatic without compromise.”
A worldwide roll-out
The initial roll out of the Affiperf Meta DSP includes, amongst others, the recently launched ONE by AOL, onto one open infrastructure. Accessible in over 102 markets, Affiperf will continue to develop the product in the coming months to increase the number of DSP platforms that can be analysed at the same time.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
